Featured Photographer: Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz is an American photographer who got her start by working for Rolling Stone magazine.

She was the last person to professionally photograph John Lennon as he was shot a mere 5 hours after this photo was taken. He died in December 1980 and this photo was put on the cover of Rolling Stone, the next month January 1981. Read the story behind this influential photograph, voted in 2005 to be the number one magazine cover of the last 40 years.

Leibovitz moved on to Vanity Fair in the ’80s which presented her with more opportunities to photograph celebrities – a word she dislikes. “I’ve always been more interested in what they do than who they are, I hope that my photographs reflect that.“ She tries to receive a little piece of each subjects personality in the photos.  Just Google ‘Annie Leibovitz + a celebrity name’ and something will pop up.

Every year, Vanity Fair does a Hollywood issue and Leibovitz does a group portrait with celebrities du jour. If you’ve ever seen one of these issues the front cover folds out. Find out more about these group photos from a photography perspective.

Leibovitz worked with Disney on their ‘Year of a Million Dreams’ project where celebrities are portrayed as Disney characters. Check out the image gallery. Even if you are not a Disney fan, you will find these are visually appealing.

No stranger to controversy, Leibovitz has taken photos of Demi Moore in the nude twice and more recently, a photo of teenaged Miley Cyrus where she appeared topless. In this article, Annie Leibovitz says she didn’t even think the famous shot of pregnant Demi Moore was even all that good!

You can find books and media about Leibovitz’s work at the Ottawa Public Library which you can borrow, for free!

Following are several of Leibovitz’s photos of celebrities.